This invention relates generally to the art of heat exchange and more particularly to an enhancement to improve the cooling ability of cooling ponds.
Cooling ponds are traditionally utilized to conduct heat from heat sources to the ambient atmosphere. Typical applications of cooling ponds include the cooling of compressors of air conditioning units. The heat is normally conducted into the cooling pond by conduction or by exchange of warm water from cooling coils to be replenished by the cooler water of the remaining body of the cooling pond. The cooling pond responds by exchanging the heat thus absorbed to the ambient atmosphere by radiation convection and by the cooling effect of evaporation of the water in the cooling pond into the ambient atmosphere. Such heat exchange between the cooling pond and ambient atmosphere is frequently enhanced by the utilization of fountains which promote additional heat exchange by the mechanisms above described.
While these heat conducting mechanisms have proved generally satisfactory, any enhancement in the cooling efficiency would promote better utilization of such cooling ponds.